Original Post
[size="1"]EDIT: Now I think about it, this thread could go to the Game Design forum to catch the opinion of users who do not frequent the lounge...
Shadow Complex
As I'm working on a platformer myself I started youtubing platformer videos and I came across this marvelous piece of game. The graphics are stunning, the levels seem to be streamed, the gameplay is so complete and the cinematics have nothing to envy to most Hollywood productions. I really don't see how a platformer could do better than this
The link to the wiki article is worth every word. Take a look at this excerpt:
Shadow Complex
As I'm working on a platformer myself I started youtubing platformer videos and I came across this marvelous piece of game. The graphics are stunning, the levels seem to be streamed, the gameplay is so complete and the cinematics have nothing to envy to most Hollywood productions. I really don't see how a platformer could do better than this
The link to the wiki article is worth every word. Take a look at this excerpt:
[font="sans-serif"]Chair Entertainment's creative director Donald Mustard stated that much of Shadow Complex is based around the gameplay of Super Metroid, a game he considers "the pinnacle of 2D game design".[sup][4][/sup] Much of their effort was in creating the Metroid-style of gameplay, a first for their company. The first month of development was spent having the team replaying the various Metroid games in order to establish the language and concepts of such games for development in order to expand on enjoyable sections while avoiding the mistakes of these games. Chair's design process started by drawing out the game's world on graph paper, using the concepts of tile-based games to craft out the world, despite the final game not being tile-based. This process set certain rules, such as how high the character may jump with the various upgrades or how far the character must run before a certain power would activate. They then played out the game on this paper map to make sure that all parts of the game were possible to complete. Such a map was also used to help with the game's pacing, making sure that the player's interest in the game would remain despite the acquisition of more and more powerups.[sup][5][/sup][/font]
[font="sans-serif"]Roughly six months into development, they recognized that their initial selected jump height was too large and did not fit with the game, forcing the team to redesign the map with a smaller jump height; Mustard noted this was one of the few changes they made that "hurt" but was caught early enough in the process to be repaired.[sup][5][/sup] The team also had to consider the impact of the variety of power-ups they wanted to include, made more complex by their desire to have the power-ups usable anywhere. For example, while other games would specifically limit the use of a hookshot to specific surfaces, Chair's developers sought to have their tool usable on any surface, and had to consider all the potentially game-breaking routes that would be created by introducing the tool too early.[sup][5][/sup] Several iterations of this paper map were performed, though Mustard noted that about 85% of their original design remained in the final map.[sup][6][/sup] With a brush stroke tool within the Unreal Engine, they were then able to quickly build out their drawn map into the 3D computer engine, using a cylinder to represent the player. After working on tightening the feel of the player's movement controls with the simplistic map, they then began prototyping the rest of the game.[sup][color="#0645AD"][[color="#0645AD"]4[color="#0645AD"]][/sup][/font]
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This is the series of videos I found on youtube, this guy took the job of recording almost the entire game for people to see:
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Here a Super Metroid video to compare:
[size="1"](something strange happened here)
This is so awesome. When I stare at what I do all alone I feel so little in comparision, still watching this awesome games encourages me and inspires me into trying my best following their steps.
Has anybody actually played it?